


Would you die for the one you love? (I can be your hero)

by niallerisababe



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Bromance, Character Death, Friendship, Gen, Liam is brokenhearted, Niall tries to be a hero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 14:51:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6199330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niallerisababe/pseuds/niallerisababe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam is close enough by now to see the man point the gun at Niall, to hear the gunshot, to watch his best friend’s face twist with pain and anguish, to feel in his bones the sickening thud as Niall crumples to the floor.</p><p> A tear trickles down Liam’s cheek, then another, and then he’s just kneeling there sobbing, clutching his dying friend’s hand as if he’s the one dying, realization sinking in but not acceptance, not quite yet, as he takes in the ever-growing puddle of blood, Niall’s blood, that he is kneeling in and Niall is lying in, watching as it stains Niall’s bleached blonde hair a pinkish red.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Would you die for the one you love? (I can be your hero)

**Author's Note:**

> Major character death, and Liam and Niall feels.  
> Title from "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias.

**~Niall’s POV~**

Niall is jogging slowly down the road, phone in hand, his earbuds plugged into it with one earbud firmly in his ear and the other dangling down his chest. People passing by him can hear the loud music being played – Michael Buble’s “Cry Me A River”, which has always been one of the blonde boy’s favorite songs and was made even more so after his now best friend Liam Payne sang it at his second X-Factor audition.

It feels good to be in his native country of Ireland again while the band is on hiatus, and Niall is definitely making the most of his time there. Eating at Nando’s, relaxing and having fun with his family, going backpacking at various places……yep, Niall is definitely enjoying himself; and has been even more so since Liam surprised him yesterday by showing up at his house.

_~Start Flashback~_

_There’s a knock on the door to Niall’s room. Niall stops strumming his guitar and sets the instrument aside, standing and opening the door._

_A man is standing there, a cap pulled low over his eyes and pizza boxes in his hands. “Pizza delivery.”_

_Niall briefly wonders how and why this man came all the way into his house just to deliver pizza that Niall can’t seem to remember ordering, but then he shrugs and takes the pizza from the man. Food is food, and if it’s free, even better._

_Something on the man’s arm catches Niall’s eye as he takes the pizza boxes, and he narrows his eyes slightly. Setting the pizza down on his bed, he reaches out and grasps the man’s arm, pulling up his shirt sleeve from just below his elbow to just above it._

_The man lets him do it, and as Niall glances over the various tattoos on his arm, his suspicions are confirmed. Four thick, black bars in the shape of wide V’s mark the side of his forearm, and Niall instantly recognizes the tattoo. He should; he’s seen it countless times._

_“Liam!” Niall practically squeals, throwing his arms around the older boy’s neck and hugging him tightly._

_Liam laughs, hugging Niall in return. “Hey, Nialler.”_

_Niall pulls back, grinning widely up at him. “What are you doing here?”_

_Liam tugs the cap off his head, running his fingers through his short hair. “I missed you, and I was in the area, so I decided to drop by. I’ll be here for a couple of weeks, at least.”_

_It’s all Niall can do to contain the glee he feels at the prospect of getting the show his best friend around his hometown of Mullingar, Ireland; and spend time with him._

_Liam senses Niall’s excitement and grins at him. “I’ll be spending so much time with you, you’ll be sick of me,” he teases._

_“Never,” Niall replies, and it’s the heartfelt truth._

_~End flashback~_

This morning, just before Niall had gone out for his morning run, he had wanted Liam to join him; but the older boy was still asleep in the spare bed that they had moved into Niall’s room for him, and he looked so peaceful that Niall had opted to just leave him be.

Niall’s phone buzzes in his hand, and he glances down at his new texts.

_Liam (Payno): Hey, good morning!_

_Liam (Payno): I’m up now; sorry that I couldn’t join you on your morning run but I was knackered from staying up past midnight last night watching the Toy Story movies._

Niall’s fingers tap out answering texts.

_Niall (Nialler): You’re the one who wanted to watch them all, Li._

_Niall (Nialler): And, it’s no problem. You looked so peaceful, and besides, I got this ;) (Attached photo)_

_Liam (Payno): Eww, I was drooling. Delete that picture!_

_Niall (Nialler): Ha; not on your life._

_Niall (Nialler): Hey, wanna meet at a small convenience store/restaurant to grab some breakfast? It’s just down the street from my house; it’s called “Carla’s Conveniences”._

_Liam (Payno): Haha; nice name._

_Liam (Payno): Sure, see ya there =)_

Niall slides his phone into his pocket, turning toward the store. He’s only a couple of minutes away from it and is most likely going to be there before Liam, who’s usually a bit late for things. “Fashionably late”, Liam calls it, and Niall always laughs and retorts that Liam is late too many times to always be fashionably late.

Niall crosses the street and enters the store. It’s relatively empty of people except for a young woman browsing the shelves while holding her infant; Patty, the cook, who makes some of the best food Niall has ever tasted (except for Nando’s, of course); Joe, an old, balding man who helps Carla run the store; and, of course, Carla, a cheerful, dark-skinned and matronly woman in her forties.

“Hey, honey,” she calls as he enters the store. He’s a regular customer because he likes Carla, Joe, Patty, and the overall welcoming feel to the store. “Here for some breakfast?”

He grins because, as usual, she’s hit the proverbial nail on the head. “Yeah. And I have a friend joining me in a few minutes.”

“One of the boys?” Carla hazards a guess, and Niall nods in confirmation. “Which one? The one that looks a bit like a girl,” Harry, Niall guesses, “the sassy, smart-alecky one,” Louis, Niall immediately knows with a grin, “or the sweet, gentlemanly one?” That must be Liam because he’s the only one she has yet to name, so he nods again.

“Liam, yeah. The ‘sweet, gentlemanly one’,” he answers.

Carla gives him an approving nod. “I like that one.”

Their conversation is interrupted as the young woman approaches the cash register, holding her baby in one arm while struggling to pull out her wallet with the other.

“Here, let me help,” Niall offers, holding out his arms. At first she eyes him with distrust, but then gives in as she sees the sincerity in his blue eyes.

“Thanks,” she murmurs, handing over her baby. Niall gently cradles it as she pays for her groceries, then carefully hands it back to her. “No problem.”

The bell attached to the top of the store’s door jangles as a man shoves the door open and strides into the store. He heads straight for the cash register, pushing the young woman aside, and leans forward, talking in low tones to Carla.

Niall grabs the young woman’s arm and steadies her, and she murmurs her thanks yet again.

Niall nods at her then glances at the man, frowning. Stepping forward, he taps the man on the shoulder. “You should apologi-“ he begins, then stops abruptly as the man whirls and shoves a gun in his face.

“Back off,” the man hisses, “before I kill you.” He gestures toward the back of the store with the gun. “All of you, line up over there,” he orders, then, to Carla, “except for you.”

Joe, Patty, and the young woman with her infant immediately obey, moving toward the back wall, but Niall is slower to comply.

“Why don’t you let them go?” he tries to reason, but the man is having none of it.

“Get back there!” he shouts, pointing the gun at Niall again.

Niall notices that the gun and the man’s hands are shaking, and remembers that a nervous man with a gun is more dangerous than a calm man with a gun. So he slowly backs up a bit, and tries yet again.

“C’mon, man. You don’t need to do this,” Niall pleads.

“If you don’t get back now, I will shoot you!” the man screams at him.

Niall retreats a few more steps, although not all the way to the back wall, but that seems to appease the man because he turns back to Carla and orders her to open the cash register. Once she does, he begins stuffing cash into a black gym bag; nervously glancing out the window.

Niall knows, he just knows, that the man, as nervous as he is, will shoot the next person to walk into the store, so when he sees Liam walking down the street, he nearly loses it right there. But he forces himself to remain calm and think this through.

He catches Carla’s eye and gives an almost imperceptible jerk of his head toward the window, toward Liam, and when she gives him a slight nod, he knows that she knows, too.

She fumbles with some of the money, ‘accidentally’ dropping it on the floor, and when the man bends over to pick up the wad of cash, Niall makes his move.

He launches himself at the man, tackling him to the floor. The boxing lessons that Liam has given him come in handy as he lands an uppercut to the man’s face.

The man is older and heavier than Niall, though, and easily shakes him off. He snatches up the gun that he had dropped on the floor when Niall had tackled him, jumps to his feet, points the gun at Niall, who has just risen from the floor, and fires.

**~Liam’s POV~**

Liam is close enough by now to see the man point the gun at Niall, to hear the gunshot, to watch his best friend’s face twist with pain and anguish, to feel in his bones the sickening thud as Niall crumples to the floor.

Liam breaks into a sprint easily; he’s been running for years. Before auditioning on the X-Factor he had wanted to be an Olympic runner, but over and over again he’s been thankful that he auditioned instead because at his second audition, he met the lads that are now his best friends. But now, his very best friend, the one he had connected with the most during these past five years, is dying, and he doesn’t know if he can take much more of the suffocating tightness he feels in his chest right now.

By the time he is skidding to a stop in the store, the man is gone. Liam immediately turns his attention to Niall, who is curled up on the floor clutching his bleeding chest and gasping Liam’s name.

Liam kneels beside him, touching the smaller boy’s pale face that had been so flushed with excitement just yesterday. “I’m here, I’m right here, Nialler.”

“Liam,” Niall manages to choke out, and Liam feels a rush of hope because Niall has been shot, yes, but he is still breathing, still talking.

“Just keep holding onto that luck o’ the Irish you’ve claimed to have so many times,” Liam jokes half-heartedly, pulling out his phone and dialing 112, Ireland’s emergency number. “Help is on the way.”

Niall moves his hand slightly, reaching, reaching for Liam. Once Liam notices this he clasps Niall’s hand in his own, squeezing gently. “You’re going to make it.”

Niall shakes his head slightly, “No, ‘m not…...I can already feel it getting harder to breathe, feel the life slowly slipping away…….”

A tear trickles down Liam’s cheek, then another, and then he’s just kneeling there sobbing, clutching his dying friend’s hand as if he’s the one dying, realization sinking in but not acceptance, not quite yet, as he takes in the ever-growing puddle of blood, Niall’s blood, that he is kneeling in and Niall is lying in, watching as it stains Niall’s bleached blonde hair a pinkish red.

There’s the sound of sirens in the distance and Liam knows that help is coming, is almost here. So he pleads with Niall again, as if dying is a choice.

It isn’t.

“They’re almost here, hold on, Nialler, just hold on a bit longer,” he begs, but now Niall is so weak and has lost so much blood that he can’t even shake his head. He can, however, get out a few words, so he does.

“Tell the boys…..I love ‘em……” he rasps, the voice that was once strong and beautiful and had sung so many songs now faint and weak. “They’re ‘m best friends, Li……..you, too………especially…….”

Liam’s eyes are tearing up again, sobs threatening to break through once more, but he holds them back, determined to be strong these last few moments, for Niall’s sake.

“……..tell the fans I love ‘em……..”, and by now Liam has to lean in close to make out his friend’s soft words.

He feels Niall’s warm breath on his ear, the last he’ll ever take, hears the final word that Niall manages to get out.

“Goodbye.”

And just like that, he’s gone.

His chest stills.

His bright blue eyes turn glassy.

The blood stops pumping out of his body.

And Liam breaks down and lets the sobs come as he gathers his bandmate, his best friend, his _brother_ , in a way, close to him, for the last time.

When the EMTs get there, they have to pry Niall’s cold, dead body away from Liam, who is still sitting there sobbing and clutching it.

Later, Liam thinks it’s accurate to say that the other boys got over Niall’s death faster than he did.

Harry locked himself in his room for a couple of days, and Louis moped around looking lost, but they got over it.

Zayn tweeted condolences to his living former bandmates about Niall, and when Liam saw the tweets, he hurled his phone so hard at the wall he was surprised it didn’t break; screaming about how Zayn didn’t care, had never cared, screams that turned into sobs after a while, that resulted in Louis and Harry spending the night with him in Niall’s room because Liam is almost always in his dead friend’s room.

After a few months, Liam is a lot better.

There are times when he wakes up in the middle of the night, screaming Niall’s name, the image of his lifeless body fresh in his mind. Harry and Louis rush into the room, soothing him, comforting him, and he clings to them because they’re all he has left, because he couldn’t get Zayn to stay and he couldn’t save Niall.

There are times when he’s up on stage, singing Niall’s harmonies and solos along with his own, looking at the spot on the stage where the blonde boy once stood, laughing, singing, and dancing, when he chokes up, stops singing, and begins to sob onstage.

There are times when he’s at Nando’s with Harry and Louis, staring at the empty seat facing him where Niall used to sit, used to shovel food into his mouth and joke about his ravenous appetite. And he just sits there staring, feeling numb, not realizing that silent tears are streaming down his cheeks, not registering Louis’ arm around his shoulders and Harry’s arm around his waist as the gently guide him out of Nando’s.

More time passes, and with it, those moments lessen until they are a rare occurrence and Liam is actually starting to feel happy again.

Later, reflecting on that time, he decides that it was something Louis said that made him start to feel happy again and accept Niall’s death.

“Niall always tried to be a hero, Li. That’s just what he did. It was in his blood, in his nature, to help people; even at the risk of his own life, and one day, that’s what it cost him. Knowing Nialler, he probably never regretted it even once as he lay there dying. Don’t take away from his sacrifice by mourning him forever, Liam. Niall would want you to be happy.”

Sometimes, Liam wishes that Niall wasn’t always trying to be a hero, because then, maybe he’d still be alive.

But he takes Louis’ words to heart because he knows the older boy is right, knows that this is what Niall would have wanted.

So he gets happier, and soon things are almost back to normal except that they once were five, then four, and now three.

They name their next album “THREE”, for Niall.

As the days, weeks, months, and eventually years pass by, they never forget Niall. Instead, they smile and remember him for what he was.

A hero.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Snapchat: @nialler_live (add to see all of Niall’s performances)
> 
> Instagram: @niallerisababe


End file.
